“This was not reckless driving. This was murder,” the judge said before she read out Mackenzie Shirilla’s verdict Monday afternoon.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    The reason why they say this was murder:

    Two weeks before the crash, she allegedly threatened to crash her vehicle when she was driving with Russo because she was upset over a disagreement they had. Russo called his mother and asked to be picked up, and a friend ended up retrieving him. In a phone call with Russo, the friend allegedly overheard Shirilla say, “I will crash this car right now,” prosecutors said in court documents.

    This isn’t a drunk driver, or a thrillseeker, this is someone with murderous intent.

      • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
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        In most US jurisdictions if you’re “just” trying to commit a felony, like purposely crashing your car at 100+ MPH (160+ KPH) to cause grievous bodily harm to others, and someone dies as a result that’s automatically elevated to murder.

      • JoBo@feddit.uk
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        It’ll depend on the jurisdiction. But ‘intent’ for murder does not mean “pre-planned”. Heat of the moment intention to do serious harm is enough for a murder conviction in the UK (and, I believe, the US).

        In this case, the prosecution accused her of pre-planning as well as intent, and the jury agreed with one or both arguments.

        Russo, the judge, delivered a scalding description of the case before she read out the verdict, saying Shirilla had a “mission” she executed with “precision” that fateful day — and “the mission was death.”

        “The [crash] video clearly shows the purpose and intent of the defendant. She chose a course of death and destruction that day,” Russo said.

        “She morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down the street,” Russo said, saying Shirilla made a calculated decision to drive that morning, when not many people would be around, on an obscure route she did not routinely take.

        Prosecutor Michael O’Malley told NBC affiliate WKYC of Cleveland that the crash video was damning, saying, “The intent was obvious upon seeing that video that there was only one goal.”

      • ZodiacSF1969@sh.itjust.works
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        Murder laws can vary by country.

        She murdered two people with the intent to at least cause significant harm. That’s enough on the state she was in, thank God. She deserves life in prison.

      • JoBo@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        It sounds much more like an abusive relationship. She was trying to punish him, regardless of the risk to herself.

        • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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          …no, no, no… only WOMEN can be in abusive relationships.

          At least that is the utter bullshit you would believe if you listened to the feminist/white knight rhetoric out there.

            • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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              Clearly you don’t want to hear the truth of the general bias of the internet and society as a whole.

                • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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                  We don’t have good feminists. The ones we have left don’t want equality, they want favoritism. There is a massive difference between the two.

          • JoBo@feddit.uk
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            Honestly, it’s very very similar. AFAICT she was trying to punish him. It has all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship. And an all too common outcome.

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        If you’re trying to kill others along with you, it’s not just suicide, it’s also murder.

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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        This is why suicidal people are dangerous, it’s a relatively small change from killing yourself, to killing others.

        • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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          This is why pastry chefs are dangerous, it’s a relatively small change from baking your bread, to baking others.

        • quicksand@lemm.ee
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          No there may be a small chance of collateral damage, such as this case. But suicidal thinking does not make you think of killing others. You’re clearly lucky enough to have never had suicidal ideation, but it never comes near the kind of thoughts that want to kill others

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            It changes when it comes to acting. If you have the gun to your head, shooting someone telling you to stop is also highly likely.

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              Let’s see some stats on that one because being an abusive murder is a lot different than suicidality.

              There is no correlation between her wanting to kill people and her potential suicidality. They just coincidentally line up in this case.

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            As such, it is clear that suicides tend to have high levels of aggressive–destructive impulsive behaviours, generally referred to as impulsive–aggressive behaviours. These have been operationally defined in suicide studies as a tendency to react with animosity or overt hostility without consideration to possible consequences, when piqued or under stress.

            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1277022/

            • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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              Did you read anything else in that paper…? The words around that statement? Even the abstract?

              Or did you google what you wanted to see and post the result, because that paper is not about people harming others whilst attempting suicide. It is barely tangentially about that.

              (it’s about the impact of aggressive-impulsive tendencies on the suicide…r themselves)

        • Case@unilem.org
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          I have a relative who was recently given a DUI.

          They went to the store, sober, and bought a handle of vodka (1.75 liters) consumed the vast majority, and drove around.

          He wanted to die in a head on collision. Selfish fuck.

          I don’t have a problem with people having the freedom to decide enough is enough, but don’t harm others in the process, at least more so than the death would cause. Especially innocent unrelated people.

  • 18-24-61-B-17-17-4@lemmy.world
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    Fucking hell that is horrible. And of course she’s the only one to survive. 100mph into a brick building has probably left her pretty physically fucked up and in constant pain. Hope she enjoys feeling that way in prison for the rest of her life.

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      She’ll spend 8 months in prison and appeal for a reduced sentence and get out on “good behavior” before she’s even served a quarter of her term. Don’t you know how the American legal system works?

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    I am truly sorry for the passengers. Lost life because of teenage perceived hardship is tragic.

    From a different perspective, it seems incredibly impressive that anyone survived a deliberate head on collision with a brick wall (that appears to have barely buckled) at 100 MPH / 161 KMH.

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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      Not just survived, but with everything intact. No missing limbs or massive head trauma. She’s wildly lucky in that reguard.

    • Siegfried@lemmy.world
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      Thanks for the Christianization of the speed units, God bless you

      Survived and still standing on her feet…

  • BilboBargains@lemmy.world
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    Prosecutor: What gear were you in at the moment of impact?

    Defendant: Gucci sweats and Reebok Classics.

  • kite@lemmy.world
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    There are a lot of people in this post spouting their opinion on an article they very clearly did not read.

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    Jesus, I sympathize, this is awful…i was t-boned by a teen going 85 mph, I wish my attorneys had the same teeth this judge does

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      I’m sorry that happened… but that’s not why she said it. This girl accelerated full speed, without attempting to slow down at all, straight into a brick wall. Those teens probably weren’t trying to hit you, this girl very very very likely was trying to hit that wall and kill everyone in the car.

  • Saturdaycat@kbin.social
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    Wow the way she’s crying is disgusting, she’s just sorry for herself not for the deaths she caused. No remorse, only regret for getting sentenced

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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      Wow the way she’s crying is disgusting, she’s just sorry for herself not for the deaths she caused. No remorse, only regret for getting sentenced

      How do you know that? I don’t know about you but I’ve done things in anger that I felt genuine remorse for later.

      Never killed anyone though, I suppose.

        • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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          It’s been two years since she made that video, regardless of whether it was made before or after the crash.

          I’m not trying to say that she is remorseful, only that we cannot say that she isn’t based solely on her actions two years ago.

            • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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              Sure seems like she had a lot of issues at 17, that’s for sure. Most 17-year-olds don’t murder their friends and boyfriends.

              I find her family’s attitude toward the whole thing troubling. I know my family, if I were in this situation and they had the same evidence, would be telling me to plead guilty and take responsibility. I have a feeling that concept was never big in her upbringing or her family’s.

              It’s tragic all the way down.

              • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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                Again it’s tragic for the victims, not for her. Saying it’s tragic all the way down, is a false equivalence.

                • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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                  Again it’s tragic for the victims, not for her. Saying it’s tragic all the way down, is a false equivalence.

                  I don’t want to be argumentative, but there is no false equivalence in my position. I never tried to apply any equivalence. Things can be tragic without being equivalently tragic, and one thing being tragic does not take away the tragedy of something else.

                  I think one could argue that you’re falling prey to the fallacy of relative privation. “X is worse than Y, so we shouldn’t care about Y.”

                  Tragedy is not a zero sum game. It is absolutely tragic that those young men were murdered. It is tragic that their families lost their loved ones. It is also tragic that this young woman thought the proper solution to her problems was to attempt murder-suicide. It is tragic that she threw away any promise her own life held along with theirs. It is perhaps not tragic, but certainly sad and troubling, that her family seems to think she did nothing wrong.

                  Yes, it’s more tragic for the victims, but it her story is still a tragedy.

                  It is important to note that I am in no way trying to excuse her actions or argue for leniency. She murdered two people in a horrible and reckless action. There are consequences for that action beyond the direct ones.

                  But empathy is important even for those we may hate.

      • Saturdaycat@kbin.social
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        Because of her intent and crimes- she had genuine murderous intent as the judgement said. She seemed very cruel and unhinged according to the article and presented evidence and the video showed her crying due to the judgement.

        • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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          It’s been two years since she murdered those people. She could easily feel true remorse now.

          I’m in no way trying to excuse her actions, I just think it’s worth trying to do some level of empathizing for people. Not that what she did was in any way justified, but I can’t imagine trying to live with myself if I got angry enough to murder someone.

          • Saturdaycat@kbin.social
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            It’s all speculation and assumptions anyway ! We can see different things. I feel disgust and see regret and you may see someone possibly showing remorse. We just don’t know for sure either way.

            Have a good day fellow fediperson

          • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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            Crying when the sentence was read doesn’t say anything one way or the other about her feeling or not remorse because that specific moment is about what’s going to happen to her, not about others, so she’s crying for herself.

            She almost certainly feels regret (which is entirelly about the consequences for herself), but it’s unclear that she feels remorse (which is about the consequences for others of her actions).

    • Aceticon@lemmy.world
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      It’s something that people often forget (because they aren’t like that themselves and have normal human reactions) is that narcisists, sociopaths, psychopaths and people with similar psychological disfunctions that make them act in “cold hearted” ways do feel.

      However they feel only for themselves, never for others.

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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      This is a bit unfair, though I didn’t watch the trial in full. We have no idea if she cried for the other lives or not.

      • Saturdaycat@kbin.social
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        It’s unfair of me, but it is my perception and my opinion which is only based in observation yup.

  • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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    Anyone with a legal background able to help me understand how two deaths resulted in 4 murder convictions and 2 vehicular homicide convictions?

    • Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com
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      I can say she was convicted of two counts of both R.C. 2903.02(A) & (B)—basically “normal” murder and felony murder. Clearly they thought she did it on purpose and because she was committing another felony. I can’t say why those don’t merge together under Ohio law or if they are supposed to. Ohio is a fairly statutory state, so maybe they overwrite that common law rule?

      • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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        Okay, felony murder makes sense as the other charges would be felonies. I don’t care much for felony murder laws because I feel like they deincentivize careful action in law enforcement, but I definitely understand where if that law is in place she caught murder for the actual murder then felony murder subsequent to the assaults.

        Still feels weird that two dead people produced 6 homicide convictions though. Like, you killed them, that’s 2 crimes. You killed them with a car, that’s two more crimes. In the process of killing them with a car, which is a felony, you killed them. That’s two more crimes.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        Thank you, but that’s a lot of reading for a simple question.

        Statistical analysis was by χ2 test; a p value of less than 0.05 was assumed to correlate with a significant difference in rates of injury.

        Oh yes it’s all clear to me now.

        I know it used to be like that before air bags and safety belts, because the steering wheel takes some of the blow in frontal collisions. But such dramatic difference I suspected she might have made the collision worse for the passengers on purpose.

        PS She is probably a narcissist: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12417047/Mackenzie-Shirilla-TikTok-doing-drugs-not-dying-jailed-murdering-boyfriend-friend-drugged-100mph-crash.html

        PPS: The article I found describes that her survival was miraculous, and she had surgery.

        • Sciaphobia@lemm.ee
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          Oh yes it’s all clear to me now.

          The p value is effectively the % chance something happened by coincidence, and not because of a real effect. Like flipping a coin and getting the same side several times in a row. P value is an assessment of that likelihood. Less than .05 means a less than 5% chance of that. I don’t know what the other bit is, except it was likely a method of statistical analysis.

          It’s a way of saying that the results they found were very unlikely to be due to chance.

        • girlfreddy@mastodon.social
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          @Buffalox

          tl:dr version is always the conclusions …

          Conclusions: Front seat passengers are at increased risk of injury relative to drivers in actual road traffic accidents as recorded in the STAG database. This contradicts crash test data, which suggest drivers are less well protected than front seat passengers in laboratory conditions.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            Yes but that could for instance be due to traffic coming from the passenger side that the driver is less likely to see in time. That would be irrelevant to this case.

  • TheProtagonist@lemmy.world
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    This is an unbelievable tragedy, for all of them. She just turned 18, I wonder what her sentence will be like. I assume that in the US - unlike the situation over here in Europe - there is no special “juvenile justice” for young adults, so she might face multiple lifetimes in prison after being convicted for murder. If I remember correctly you can get separate sentences for each victim, which will sum up to your total sentence.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    I wonder of she cried this much too for the two kids she killed. I think she needs a psychiatric institution instead of jail